Poetic Justice Project presents BLYTHE

Poetic Justice Project PRESENTS PLAY WRITTEN BY PRISONER 25 YEARS AGO — BLYTHE

An award-winning play written by a prison inmate 25 years ago is Poetic Justice Project’s newest production. Dan McMullan wrote BLYTHE, a tenderhearted comedy set in a prison town, when he was incarcerated at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison. He studied theatre and creative writing there with Leah Joki, Artist Facilitator of the Arts in Corrections program.

The play placed first in the Arts in Corrections statewide prison playwriting contest. It was scheduled for a staged reading in 1992 at the Ivar Theater in Hollywood, in a benefit sponsored by Ed Asner and Edward James Olmos. But two days before the show, the prison’s warden pulled the plug on the performance, although the second- and third-place plays were performed.

The Los Angeles Times published an article about the controversy titled “Go Directly to Jail, Don’t Collect $200, Don’t Write a Play.” Now Poetic Justice Project’s company of formerly incarcerated actors will give BLYTHE its premiere in several locations statewide. BLYTHE is directed by Leah Joki, Dan McMullan’s Arts in Corrections teacher and author of the memoir Juilliard to Jail and writer/performer of the one-woman play PRISON BOXING.

In Santa Cruz, Sunday, catch BLYTHE Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $15 at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door. The performance will be followed by an audience talkback.

Dan McMullan paroled in 1991 and has worked with disabled homeless people for 20 years as the director of the Disabled People Outside Project. He is currently a Commissioner for the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission for the City of Berkeley, as well as a writer and editorial board member of Street Spirit newspaper. Mr. McMullan lives in Berkeley with his wife Katy and two sons.

Poetic Justice Project (PJP) is the only theatre company in the state comprised of formerly incarcerated actors appearing in plays that examine crime, punishment and redemption. A program of the award-winning William James Association, PJP enjoys continuing support from the Fund for Santa Barbara. For more information, visit poeticjusticeproject.org or find Poetic Justice Project on Facebook.